1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for the presentation of functional brain activities in a time-resolved and location-resolved manner, by means of magnetic resonance, as well as to a magnetic resonance apparatus for implementing such a method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,112 discloses a method for time-resolved and location-resolved presentation of functional brain activities. A stimulation sequence is thereby applied to the patient and image data from the brain are acquired with an MR tomography apparatus. In order to separate the signal changes caused by brain activities from other signal changes, for example caused by movements, a correlation coefficient between the stimulation function and the obtained chronological signal curve is calculated for each pixel of the acquired image data.
For example, visual, acoustic, motor or olfactory stimuli of the sensory organs can be used for stimulation of brain activities. Cognitive problems are also often applied. The data acquisition for the MR image is then synchronized with this stimulation sequence. The post-processing, i.e., for example, the aforementioned correlation, ensues by post-processing the data acquired at the MR tomography apparatus with the assistance of specific programs that, in conventional systems, are not integrated into the general control execution. The complexity of the functional imaging requires the use of experts who interactively work at parts of the overall problem. Dependent on the experimental conditions, different post-processing paths are utilized. Heretofore, thus, functional MR examinations have been extremely time-consuming and have required considerable special knowledge in addition to dexterity of a trained MR radiologist.